Muzaffereddin Yavlak Arslan, ruler of the Çobanoğulları principality (r. 1280-1292), advanced the Turkification of Paphlagonia through his campaigns against Byzantium. In 1273 he had the Atabeygazi (Forty-Columned) Mosque built in Kastamonu. He was killed in 1292 in a battle against Rükneddin Kılıçarslan during a Seljuk succession struggle; his tomb, venerated popularly as 'Atabey Gazi', adjoins the southeast of the mosque. (Historically a bey/ruler, but venerated in folk tradition as a gazi-saint.) (Sources: TDV Encyclopaedia of Islam 'Yavlak Arslan'; Kastamonu Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism)
Sources
- TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (DİA) · entry “Yavlak Arslan”
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